I recently watched a documentary called No Impact Man. It’s about a man, his wife and their two-year-old daughter who embark on a year-long journey of having no environmental impact.

They do it in different phases. For example, during the first six months they have electricity but for the second half they don’t.
In the beginning they get rid of their television and they start using self-propelled methods of transportation. At another point they even run out of toilet paper so they begin using cloth. Talk about commitment.

After the year is up, they decide to keep up some of the things they did to reduce their impact but completely trash some of their other ideas.

This couple lives in New York working as writers. Both of them had different opinions about this year-long project.

I found myself challenged by the film and so I decided to make some adjustments in the way I live, to at least try some of their ideas out.

So from now on, or as long as I can last doing this, you can call me Low Impact Girl; low impact because I am not going to the same extremes as No Impact Man (I am certainly not giving up toilet paper . . . or maybe that should be one of the things I give up? Yuck).

Every week I am going to try to incorporate an idea of lessening my impact on the environment.

This week I am starting simple by getting into the habit of always having a reusable mug with me. I buy a lot of drinks from numerous coffee and food places and am always getting my drink in a disposable cup. I may have to carry two mugs with me because from time to time I give the gift of a warm beverage to others.

If it ever stops snowing, I plan on biking to school, work and everywhere else. This would also be a nice excuse to invest some money in buying a nicer bike, rather than using my sister’s $20 thrift store bike. Maybe I’ll spend $25 on one!

For other weekly goals, I am going to buy everything second-hand or perhaps buy nothing at all. I’ll also make sure I don’t ride in elevators and instead take the healthy route up the stairs.

If you have any other ideas, please let me know. (aimme.aitkens@lethbridgecollege.ab.ca)

I will write about my experiences weekly and hopefully my readers will be challenged to take some sort of action too.

Here’s to hoping the world is going to be a better place when I am done.

Maybe I’ll end up marrying the environment because it’s going to fall madly in love with me.